On 27 May 2021, shots were allegedly fired by unidentified Naga people during Assam MLA Rupjyoti Kurmi’s visit to a disputed site in the Desoi Valley Reserve Forest. The forest is located near Vikuto village in Nagaland’s Mokochung district. Kurmi, who represents Jorhat’s border constituency Mariani, reportedly went to the site after receiving complaints of land encroachment and construction of structures on the Assam side by Naga people.
“I had gone to the border area with around 45 people, including journalists, five police personnel and local people, on an inspection following reports of fresh encroachment. I saw around six-seven houses there. We were fired upon from the Nagaland side. Some 1,000 hectares have been encroached upon in the area. My demand is that they be evicted within 48 hours and status quo be maintained,” Kurmi was quoted as saying in a news report.
Vikuto village council and Naga officials, on the other hand, maintain that on May 24, about 25-30 armed Assam Police personnel visited the disputed site and announced that the land belonged to Assam. They also allegedly destroyed a farmhouse in the village and cut down about 500 areca nut trees. Kurmis claim that the Assam police fired in retaliation to firing from the Nagaland side first, as a safety measure.
Naga organisations, such as the United Naga Tribes Association of Border Areas and Northern Sumi Hoho, dismissed the allegations of encroachment by Nagas, claiming that it is Assam that has encroached upon Nagaland’s territory. “In reality, Assam has encroached upon the land of the Nagas. They have occupied more than two kilometres inside the territory of Nagaland,” the president of Northern Sumi Hoho Kughavi Chophy told the media.
No casualty was reported in the firing incident. But additional security forces were deployed on the border, and senior authorities from both sides resolved to work out a permanent solution. On July 31, 2021, Assam and Nagaland inked an agreement to disengage its police forces from Vikuto and Aosenden villages and to monitor the border using drone and satellite imagery.
Nagaland and Assam have been embroiled in several border rows ever since Nagaland was carved out of Assam’s Naga Hills district and declared a separate state in 1963. Land conflicts mainly occur along the disputed border belt between Assam’s Golaghat and Jorhat districts and Nagaland’s Wokha and Mokokchung districts. Desoi Valley falls in the same belt.
In 2021, several organisations from Assam briefly imposed an economic blockade in the area (Marian-Mokokchung Road) over a construction-related land dispute. All previous efforts by the Union government to resolve the border dispute have proven to be unsuccessful so far. A title suit filed by the Assam government for identification of the boundary and resolving of the border dispute with Nagaland has been pending in the Supreme Court since 1988.
When Assam Forest Department officials visited the site in February 2023, the Naga encorachers threatened them using weapons and sticks. Mariani Regional Forest Officer, Animesh Kalita, had to leave the site upon receiving threats from the Nagas.
Residents of the area have lamented that the Nagas make them extremely afraid, and they are prepared to use force to fend off the alleged invaders. On 16 February 2023, members of All Assam Tea Tribes Student Association (ATTSA) along with All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and other unions held a protest against the alleged encroachment of Nagas in the Mariani area of Jorhat.
One of the locals claimed that Naga encroachers had previously inhabited the Desoi Valley and were now invading parts of the Nagajanka Grant of Mariani.
Demand/Contention of the Affected Community
Demand for legal recognition of land rights
Other Demand/Contention of the Affected Community
Demand to stop land encroachment in disputed border areas
Region Classification
Rural
Type of Land
Common
Forest and Non-Forest, Non-Forest (Other than Grazing Land)
What was the action taken by the police?
How many people did the police detain or arrest?
What is the current status of the detained/accused persons?
Did the person face any violence while in police custody?
If any arrests took place, were the accused persons produced before a judge within 24 hours of the arrest?
If the accused was not produced before a magistrate within 24 hours, or not produced at all, what were the reasons?
Legislation under which the accused was charged
Was the accused person informed of their right to legal representation? Did the accused person have access to legal aid?
In cases where the accused person approached the court for bail, was bail granted?
Why was bail granted or rejected? If granted, what were the bail conditions and quantum of bail?
Details of sources (names of accused, names and numbers of any lawyers, names of any police officers contacted)
Status of Project
Original Project Deadline
Whether the Project has been Delayed
Significance of Land to Land Owners/Users
Residential area
Whether the project was stalled due to land conflict
Source/Reference
Total investment involved (in Crores):
₹
Type of investment:
Year of Estimation
Has the Conflict Ended?
No
When did it end?
Why did the conflict end?
Categories of Legislations Involved in the Conflict
Legislations/Policies Involved
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Whether claims/objections were made as per procedure in the relevant statute
What was the claim(s)/objection(s) raised by the community?
What was the Decision of the Concerned Government Department?
Legal Processes and Loopholes Enabling the Conflict:
Land record discrepancies
Legal Status:
Out of Court
Status of Case In Court
Whether any adjudicatory body was approached
No
Name of the adjudicatory body
Name(s) of the Court(s)
Case Number
Main Reasoning/Decision of court
Major Human Rights Violations Related to the Conflict:
Physical attack
Whether criminal law was used against protestors:
Reported Details of the Violation:
Gunshots were allegedly fired by unidentified Naga people during Assam MLA Rupjyoti Kurmi’s visit to a disputed site in the Desoi Valley Reserve Forest.
Date of Violation
May 26, 2021
Location of Violation
Desoi Valley Reserve Forest
Government Departments Involved in the Conflict:
Office of Deputy Commissioner Mokochung, Nagaland; Office of Deputy Commissioner Jorhat, Assam; Assam Forest Department
PSUs Involved in the Conflict:
Did LCW Approach Government Authorities for Comments?
No
Name, Designation and Comment of the Government Authorities Approached
Corporate Parties Involved in the Conflict:
Did LCW Approach Corporate Parties for Comments?
Communities/Local Organisations in the Conflict:
United Naga Tribes Association of Border Areas, Northern Sumi Hoho
What was the action taken by the police?
How many people did the police detain or arrest?
What is the current status of the detained/accused persons?
Did the person face any violence while in police custody?
If any arrests took place, were the accused persons produced before a judge within 24 hours of the arrest?
If the accused was not produced before a magistrate within 24 hours, or not produced at all, what were the reasons?
Legislation under which the accused was charged
Was the accused person informed of their right to legal representation? Did the accused person have access to legal aid?
In cases where the accused person approached the court for bail, was bail granted?
Why was bail granted or rejected? If granted, what were the bail conditions and quantum of bail?
Were there any other notable irregularities that took place, or other significant details?
Sarup is a researcher and doctoral student in Political Science at the North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong. His research interests lie in the area of ethnic and land conflicts, political ecology and development and urban spaces of Northeast India. He has a Masters’ degree in Development Studies from the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati. He has previously done research/internships with NABARD, Oxford Microfinance Initiative (renamed Oxford Development Consultancy) and CSDS (Lokniti Programme).
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